Ally is rooted in the principles of Universal Design for Learning, benefiting all students. It provides alternative formats that can be critical for disabled students, but also benefit from students without disabilities.

Ally emphasizes autonomy, empowerment, inclusivity, and personal choice through each of its features, but particularly its alternative formats. By removing barriers to access, Ally helps create a more equitable educational environment where all students have the tools they need to succeed. 

Just a few of the alternative formats all students can select are HTML, ePub, Electronic Braille, and Audio.

Ally not only helps identify and fix accessibility issues in course materials—it also serves as an educational tool for instructors. By providing in-context guidance, explanations, and resources, Ally empowers instructors to understand the “why” behind accessibility and build lasting skills to create more inclusive content. 

This dual role—guided support and ongoing education—makes Ally a powerful driver of cultural change toward more accessible and equitable education. 

To learn more about Ally, visit this Quick Start guide for instructors. To see a brief overview of how Ally integrates with Brightspace, watch this short video introduction.  

The Center for Teaching & Learning offers a workshop, “Improve Course Accessibility with Ally.” You can register for this workshop by visiting our Events page.  

If you are unable to attend a workshop, you can find a recording of this workshop on our Videos Resources page. 

Brightspace's Accessibility Checker is found on the toolbar of any textbox–a circular icon with a small human figure–for a quick check of the text's accessibility. Read more about it on this Knowledge Base article.